With the real estate industry
continuing to show no signs of slowing after perhaps the most
active Spring Market the Bay State has ever seen, there are other
complementary industries that are also faring quite well. With the
lack of inventory being met with an immense amount of demand that
has previously never been seen before, it became an opportunistic
time for developers to start building again to help supply try to
climb back to demand and attempt to achieve some sense of an
equilibrium.
With building costs and materials generally down from
where they have been in years past, construction starts have been
on the rise and are only expected to continue this upward ascent as
the year progresses. In fact, construction starts should reach $506
Billion by the end of 2013 which would mark an impressive 6% rise
annually. Moreover, the past two years have seen an overall boost
in construction activity by 14%, according to the Construction
Outlook from McGraw Hill Construction.
With insight from Robert Murray, the Vice President of
Economic Affairs at McGraw Hill Construction, it appears as though
the degree of uncertainty regarding the economy throughout the
United States has eased. As a result, the demand for housing has
grown, lending standards for commercial real estate loans have
eased, and fundamentals for the building of commercial property
have strengthened.
A recent survey of professionals studying the construction
industry and monitoring it closely show that single-family housing
will increase by 28% in value in 2013 with the total amount of
construction starts for these homes to increase by 24% to 640,000
units. Multifamily housing units will also rise by a significant
23% this year for dollar value and by 20% in the total amount of
homes built. Boston in particular is seen as one of the cities with
the most groundbreaking results as large condominium and apartment
projects are seriously on the uptick. Commercial building starts
rose by 11% in 2012 and in 2013 that number is expected to reach
15% as retail, warehouse and hotel construction are especially
rising. This certainly is a welcomed sign for the future of
Massachusetts as the boost in supply will only help provide
stability for the remainder of 2013 and beyond.
More Information: Boston Business
Journal